Well, I believe that most kids just don’t know all the “stories” because they haven’t interacted with them often enough and in enough different ways.
I vowed to address this with my own boys (now 13, 10 and 8). So, I have been reading with them each night for the past three years, at least. We started with the children’s story bibles, the most simple up to the epitome — Eergemiers Bible Story Book. After a good year or more of that, I started in Genesis and began to read (with a little appropriate editing on the fly) the actual text.
In each circumstance, we talked about what God was doing, what the people were doing, why it was important, and how understanding this means that we probably need to do something about it in our own lives as a family.
When I got to the Wisdom and Prophetic literature, I had to do some read heavy editing, because it is just too hard for boys this young to track … but I fished out the stories woven throughout.
Then we got to the NT, and went through the Gospels and Acts. Now we’re on to Romans. Wow. With young boys.
So I’m moving from reading straight through to helping them understand the key concepts of covenant and hesed that will help them get what is happening (which is not always appropriate for young boys!).
And today, I decided that I will have to write a small primer for them to cover the epistles. And have selected key passages from most of the books to include that carry the weight of the points.
Then, after they have a grasp on the context and how the truth is to be lived day by day, we’ll go back and address the actual texts (will a little editing, most likely, still).
I may have five more years with my oldest son (maybe more) and 10 more with my youngest, God willing. We’ll keep going through it day by day, year by year, looking for the Spirit to work in their hearts in such a way that they see their stories as part of the bigger stories — as a family history full of lots of interesting people and events.
Learning just has to be applied, IMO. Otherwise, they just don’t get it. And the consequences of them not getting it are frightening!
Thanks so much for your investment in our young people!

In my experience kids tend to be taught “the stories” in Sunday School in an isolated way, without ever understanding how they fit together much less understanding “The Story” of the Biblical narrative of creation, the fall, redemption, the future hope, the present and coming Kingdom of God and our place and purpose in it, etc.
Two helpful books for young children in that regard are “The Big Picture Story Bible” and “The Jesus Storybook Bible: Every Story Whispers His Name.”
With our children we like to balance those two “Big Story” books with also teaching them the individual stories of the Bible – both the well known and the lesser known. And hope to transition them into reading the Bible on their as they grow older.
That is our particular experience. I am sure that for some kids and families it’s different.

Chris,
This is a great post – and an important problem. I wonder though if in this area we really want to be “Facilitating opportunities for guided reflection that leads to the ongoing ability to link ideas with practices.”
Learning the story of the Bible means just that. Yes the story will have implications for our practice – but on the grand scale not the microscale. There are parts of the story that simply have no application to our practice – but we need to know those parts of the story as well as those that may have application.
I have become annoyed of late with the continual question in bible study “and what does this mean for your life,” or “how do we apply this today.” It seems to me that these are inappropriate questions in most cases and lead us to disregard large swathes of the Bible’s story.

Peggy,
Great program. I wasn’t quite so organized as you are – but also found some “heavy editing” necessary at times. I never realized how much until I started reading with my kids.

On a light note, my four year old daughter was eating some treats the other day and mentioned that she was eating the ‘chocolate egg’ of the major prophets. She had already eaten the minor prophets, and was looking forward to eating the wisdom and gospel chocolate eggs next. I immediatley thought of Eugene Peterson (Eat This Book). It is never too early to start them on a journey in theri faith. We read from Eugene’s Children’s Bibles every night with our kids, it is their favorite.
So to segue into the topic, I do believe that Peggy has the key, parents really need to lead this charge. The more involved we are the more youth will know the story laid out in the Bible. When parent abdicate the role to church leaders, the result (as we see) is scary. And I say this as a youth pastor! I am trying to figure out how to partner with parents to better help them rear their youth. A part of that is to sit with them and customise the learning stream for their child as best we can (a daunting task even with my small group of 100 youth). The applied learning characteristics above are the guidelines we are trying to work with, and the key to trying to make this work will hinge on our ability to engage parents as co-facilitators of this process. Time, availabile volunteers and a large swath of youth from broken families and/or no church backgroud add to the challenge as well but we try to connect with these parents/guardians as well to start bridging this relationship (and disarming fear) as well. We are just beginning down this road so it is hard to say if we are going to see the results we are desiring yet. but I can’t think of a better way.

@RJS
I agree with what you are saying in principle, and I definitely agree students have been taught just stories and how they apply to their lives to often with out the grand narrative (though a great deal of students I’ve worked with haven’t encoutered any of it because they didn’t grow up in church). I think instead of teaching students how to “apply” specific things to their daily lives (necessarily), I think they need to be caught up in the grand story. And that can be done through various kinds of experiential things. We have to be able to show them how they are a very real part of it and help them learn… Or better yet, want to learn… What that means for the things they are doing with their lives and their day to day. They, if we help them understand that it has much more to do with it than just principles, want to learn the grand narrative. This is what I see in my experience at least.
In reply to the blog post – yeah, students know less of the overarching story of the Bible than ever. Especially because less and less students are growing up in church… And never learn the sunday school stories to begin with. i.e. – One night I was saying something about Jesus and a freshmen girl who had been with us for just a couple of weeks spoke with great surprise, “Wait… He died!?”

Ben,
I agree – experiences to apply the grand narrative as it is learned are both needed and useful. No argument.
And sometimes there are also specific passages with good specific applications – which is fine. But not always – and that’s ok too.
I think when we always look for specific application we miss the grand scheme, and we can even miss the point with some passages that seem to have good specific applications.

many Christian parents can’t teach the whole Bible story to their children because they don’t know it themselves.

another thought–I saw a church web-page that held only this line: “Based on a true story”. I would love to see my church take that thought and make it the starting point for all of our discipleship. I agree with RJS that I get very tired of the “How does this apply to your life?” question for every passage.

Great discussion.
As a youth pastor, my first step before presenting God’s Story is first to uncover and point out the “grand narrative” that is already providing the current framework and plot for most teenager’s lives in America. Are they already trying to find their role in the “American Dream” metanarrative that guiding the outlook of so many American adults who then pass it down to their kids via a sort of unintentional osmosis? That’s the main competing Story we need to deal with. There are others. So, it’s not just that we need to provide students with the Story of God; but rather that we need to show how God’s Kingdom Story SUBVERTS all other metanarratives, and invites them into something somewhat counter-cultural.
Second, it is said that when teaching teens, the faith is more often “caught” than “taught”? Does this come into play here? Does the Sunday school teacher embody the stories he is teaching, or does he present them as mere moral fables?
Third, I would recommend checking out John Eldredge’s EPIC LIVE DVD for your students. It’s a pretty accessible introduction to Christianity as God’s epic story wherein we find our role (it has it’s limitations). Have any of you used this? Did you have any success triggering a new appreciation for God’s Story? I just showed my HS group the full movie, and we are currently working through the 6 week small group curriculum. Stay tuned…
Finally, as many have stated, we need to do the hard work of discovering and highlighting the overarching plot that weaves through and connects all the small stories of the Bible. Seminaries have at last begun doing more of this in the last decade. And we need to be careful that we invite our youth to enter the story at the proper place (Acts?) and not pretend we are living back at Sinai or, more tempting, still following Jesus around Galilee. N.T. Wright is very helpful here with his “Five-Act” hermeneutic (see The Last Word, ch. 8).
Keep up the good work, Chris!

BTW, Scot’s “Blue Parakeet” is helpful here as well. =)

We really start our student ministry when the student reaches 5th grade. At this point we begin teaching fairly heavy theology (soteriology, trinitarianism, ecclesiology, etc.) couched in the broad meta-narrative. We begin with the meta-narrative to provide a “big picture” for our students so that what we teach from there on out does not seem disjointed for them. I would say we do a fairly good job at communicating the “big picture” of what God’s story is but a poor job, so far, at teaching the specific narratives we might find hidden in Scripture (David and Goliath, the Judges, the lives of the prophets, etc). I think as the students get older we incorporate more of that narrative style teaching into our curriculum. But, it seems that establishing the meta-narrative would be more essential over against establishing a good grasp of the disjointed stories through the entire Biblical narrative at first.
Jeremy – I loved your method of teaching the students what the work of God is and how to get in line with that over against what our culture might suggest is the way to go. I heard a lecture from a guy named Andy Root on the youth ministry model of Dietrich Bonhoeffer that seemed very similar. Teaching students who God is and what He is doing and that His story is the one to get involved seems to be the best way to wholistically communicate the gospel.
I’m not really a fan of Eldredge but I will check it out because I loved your other two points.

This is clearly an important discussion, one that I am encouraged is taking place. And I am especially encouraged by many of the statements. With that being said, I suspect that most of my observations will not relate to those who have posted and will post on this subject, since you all clearly care about teaching your children Holy Scripture. Nevertheless, what follows are my general concerns with the current state of youth ministry.
1) the people teaching the Bible tend not to know it.
While there certainly is an emphasis in reading scripture in evangelical and fundamentalist traditions, there is little emphasis in actually understanding it (see Mark Noll’s Scandal of the Evangelical Mind). We take passages out of scripture and distort them to such an extent where there is very little that ties the interpretation and the text.
Moreover, people who are trained to do “youth ministry,” if trained at all, tend not to have any significant exposure to the text in any substantive way. Many might have read the Bible cover to cover, and many love Jesus passionately, but that does not mean they have any idea John’s gospel relates to Genesis or have any clue what it matters (for the record, there are huge implications).
2) the Curriculum is just bad.
Much of the curriculum in circulation that try to tell the stories of the Bible are so watered down that the stories are boring. There are some that do better than most, but if the youth worker doesn’t know the context, the historical background, the nuance of language, the cultural literary devises used, then how in the world can these youth workers bring to life the Biblical world in front of their youth?
3) Education and philosophies are seldom considered in the actual acts of teaching our students in Sunday School.
Most churches do not have the resources financially to train their sunday school teacher in educational philosophies. Most are concerned with being relevant to teens and continuing to develop personal relationships with their youth – which is necessary. However, the Bible isn’t relevant because someone says so. It is relevant and attractive because of God’s work through Holy Scripture. You don’t need to sell it. But back to the point. Standing in front of a group of people and talking or leading a discussion is hard enough. Do that and talking about something very near and dear to you increases the level of difficulty exponentially. If Sunday school teachers aren’t properly trained to tell these stories, then churches will continue to loose the next generation of Christians.
4) If Parents aren’t reading their Bibles, then their children most likely won’t either.
Most people assume that this religion should be taught by their churches. This is very similar to parent’s philosophy’s on education – it is the teacher’s responsibility to teach their kids. However, any good teacher will tell you that their biggest challenge is getting parents to take responsibility for their child’s education. The same is true for those of us who teach the bible. If parents are not reinforcing the importance of faith in the home, then there is little hope that their children will grow into a mature faith.
For parents reading the bible to their kids – you are amazing! If you are not told that enough, someone in your life needs to tell you how wonderfully you are caring for the gift God has give you!
5) Who ever talked about the meta-narrative is brilliant!
In an individualistic culture, it is hard to connect youth to the larger story of who they are. But Bible tells us who we are just as much as it tell us who God is. That connection between the divine and creation is so important. And our role as agents of bring God’s kingdom here is essential (someone else above said that – also brilliant!).
6) Challenges are called challenges cause they are not easy.
A couple of weeks ago, USA Today wrote an article about the decline of every major denomination in the US. This is no surprise. Denominations have been on the decline for decades. But now is the time that where we need to expect and demand the best for our youth workers. And their best needs to be demonstrated by creating depth, not mini-mega-church-youth-gatherings. There are no simple answers. And not many are fortunate enough to have a rich biblical education. But if you know someone who has a BA in Biblical Studies, or Theology, or Religious Studies and they are not teaching the Bible to teens, then you need to bring them in and say, “we need you. the church needs you. God needs you to help raise our children.” In more liturgical traditions, everyone reaffirms this vow in Baptism. We need to affirm it again.

Sorry…I was gone at middle school PTSA (wearing my President hat) today, so I wasn’t able to stay with the conversation. And what a great one!
Barb, yes it is true that parents, too often, don’t know the stories themselves….
RJS, it helps to have your children when you’re old — what you lack in youth and strength you make up for in experience! ;^)
I enjoyed all the ideas … but I must say that the thing that still gets me going is the living of The Way at home — like with your parents and siblings. It is a very tough sell, that one, but I am committed to seeing it through.
Thanks, Scot and Chris!

Chris #13,
I laughed right out loud when i read your #2! There was a period when I taught 4th, 5th and 6th grade Sunday School … maybe for six years in a row (had lots of brothers and sisters come through, which was a blast).
I’m sure there is some decent curriculum out there…but it is only a good as the teacher — and I agree that too many of them are warm bodies. The Spirit, however, has been known to use “warm bodies” to love children in important ways, so no disrespect intended.
I only agreed to teaching the class if I didn’t have to use the curriculum…and I have continued to write many of the curriculum I have used since then. I’ll have to see how my Epistles Primer comes out…. LOL!

Karl @2 touched on this, but the original post seems to move interchangably between “the Bible’s story” and “Bible stories” when those are very different concepts.
It is a BIG problem that our youth (and often adults) don’t get the big picture of what God is doing, don’t get the big themes like exodus, exile, etc., don’t see the trajectory of the grand narrative. Had a discussion recently wondering how many at my church had much grasp of “exile” and could not remember a sermon about exile in my 14 years at this church.
On the other hand, if children don’t know specific individual stories (Tower of Babel, Ruth [I'm fuzzy on that one], Walls of Jerico), that doesn’t seem as bad. While knowing such stories is good, especially as they fit into the bigger Story, I’d rather have youth know generally about and “get” the concept of “exile” than be able to name Daniel’s buddies in the fiery furnace.

Good discussion folks. I’ve been speaking at Messiah College today and traveling home as well..
Three quick points: evangelicalism’s capacity to read the Bible as story has been deconstructed by:
1. Devotional Bible reading that focuses on getting blessings and
2. Expository Bible preaching that is piecemeal verse by verse without attention to the big picture
3. Topical preaching that focuses too much on application.
We need more preachers that focus less on the exacting study of a Book of the Bible and more on showing how each passage fits into the whole Bible.

I would add a fourth to your list as well Scot,
4. The absence of Bible reading as a part of the regular worship service – except for the few piecemeal verses subjected to exposition or chosen to explore the topic.

Although I don’t make many comments anymore on this blog, I still find this as my favorite blog (although there are many good blogs out there, and I hate to compare them).
And reading here only confirms my appreciation for this blog. In fact I was just telling Deb very recently that I need to read each post here and follow the threads as much as I can. Sometimes quite difficult because of my lack of access to computers during my days, as well as just being tired out after my work.
Blessings on this blog!

A simple thing we do in our children’s ministry is give every child a Picture Bible (comic book bible) on his or her birthday. The parents report that kids kids tend to read them right through.

Reading the Hebrew Bible in English does not cut it. Chap 1 of Genesis: God created man. Chap 2: God made man. Creation is something from nothing, like a mathematical creation. Made is something from something. This is lost in the English. If we teach, we must understand the basic principles. See “Teaching and Helping Students Think and Do Better” on amazon.

As a millennial that grew up in evangelical churches (Presbyterian, Bible churches, baptist… a variety), I grew up surrounded by kids that knew the STORY of the Bible inside and out. We were taught it in the movies we watched, kid’s books, Adventures in Odyssey, Sunday school, etc. Our accumulated knowledge didn’t necessarily result in a mature faith, but we were well educated in the facts of the text (though not in church history).
That is not my experience with the Jr. high girls that I work with now. A few of them clearly have parents that have worked with them and taught them about the Bible, but the rest of them only have a vague understanding of the text and story of the Bible. The shocking thing is that these girls have grown up going to a “good” evangelical school.